The Vampire Knight

Rating: T (coarse language, profanity, ideas generally unsuitable for those not open-minded enough to accept them)

Genre: Romance/Adventure

Plot Summary: Zero retired from being a Vampire Knight because of his agonizing, headache-causing visions. And now, he's being blackmailed into guarding the heir of the Kuran family, Kuran Kaname.

Hello, all! I'm new to this fandom (but not the manga and anime), and I figured: why not start with a pairing that enough people seem to like? I just didn't want to go through the norm just yet, but I suppose I'll eventually get there. Now, I'm just testing my arm strength. My chapters are generally long, except for this prologue. For all of you who've read/watched Vampire Knight, yes, this is alternate universe. Kind of. All that stuff at Cross Academy isn't here in this story. So you have been warned. I've changed some important things in Vampire Knight to aid my own plot; so yes, all of the Vampire Hunters are now Vampire Knights. Zero, Kaien, Yagari, and Ichiru are the most notable Vampire Knights. I'm very sorry if this change has bothered you.

Oh, and Zero is pretty disrespectful and sardonic towards almost everyone, so you've been warned of that as well.

Also, if you don't like the pairing, you may want to call it quits right now. If you've even bothered to read this introductory note. But now that the warnings are over, let's have fun reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Knight.

~~o~~

'He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.' - Friedrich Nietzsche

~~o~~

Zero was pretty sure he was being tailed.

And despite being flattered that he was apparently important enough to be stalked, he just really wasn't in the mood to couple sarcasm with any sort of pain, and especially not the oncoming headache that he was getting signals from, so he did his best to just focus on getting the hell out of the forest. As Yagari used to—and probably still did—say, "There are more animalistic beasts than you in the trees, Zero. Don't just watch your back."

The forest was pretty moderate though; no evil spirits appeared to be lurking anywhere, and he was the only vampire here.

At least, that's what he thought.

But still, three hundred years of early retirement failed to bring his senses to a stub, which his excruciating headaches were proof of. Back then when he was still a Knight, he wished Bloody Rose didn't have a conscience and would just let him shoot himself.

Footsteps were gaining on him now. Mustering a lot of mind power, and a fair enough amount of willpower, he shoved aside the headache and leapt into a tree, stationing himself on a branch silently. Then he cocked his stolen gun and waited for his little ambush party to arrive. But he was mistaken when only one man—no, Knight—stepped into the little clearing and looked up straight at him in the tree. Zero was tempted to back away; his mind didn't recognize the man, until—

"Zero, come down."

God damn.

"Go away, Cross," said Zero, glaring at him.

Kaien Cross smiled at him, and Zero swore again, aloud this time. "You can't hide from me, kid. No matter how good your prognostications are."

Zero rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, best of the best and all that shit. I think I got that last time when you drank Yagari under the table. How are Yagari and Ichiru, by the way?"

"They'd be doing better if they saw you again," Kaien replied evenly. "We need you to come back, Zero. The adept, professional Knights are dwindling, and all that are left are just students that are afraid of their own shadows. Ichiru isn't enough to protect the Kuran family's son and daughter."

Kuran? Zero knew his eyes had turned red with recognition. Then they faded back to grey. Kuran was a Pureblood surname. A very old line of Pureblood vampires, actually. Zero was impressed. Ichiru was guarding them? He sighed to himself. Either way, he was pretty much done with the Vampire Knights Association. At least, he thought. "And if I say no?"

"We'll take your case of the overdosing of Vicodin to Takahashi Court and settle it there."

Feeling the urge to seethe, Zero crossed his arms over his chest. "I didn't think you'd sink that low just to have me back as a Knight, Cross. I needed the Vicodin." He glared at Kaien again, harder this time. "I'm done with the Association. Drag that case back to the Court for all I care; I don't want to come back. What the hell do they want from me now? I completed the damn sixty-seven tasks that were required of every Knight; now what?"

"You know well what. This isn't to punish you, Zero. Originally, Ichiru was going to protect the male, but the vampire insisted on having Ichiru guard his younger sister. And let it be known: we are lower than the Pureblood vampires through and through, Vampire Knights or not. Respected, yes, and we live forever, but a Pureblood's diction is law."

"Cross, I left a long time ago for personal reasons. The Association can go stuff its orders for all I care."

"Zero Kiryu!" Kaien finally exclaimed. "You stubborn-headed, obstinate fool! That's it. I asked nicely, but that obviously isn't going to fly. If you do not come along obediently and become the Knight for the Kuran family's son, then I will show Yagari the pictures of you drunk off your ass and kissing random people!" Catching note of Zero's abruptly alarmed and rapidly paling face, he smirked to himself. "And then, I'll show your brother—"

"All right, all right!" Zero cried hastily. "I'll do it, damn it! I'll become the bloody Vampire Knight for the Kuran boy! Just don't do what you're threatening to do!"

Kaien eyed him suspiciously. 'Come down, Zero, and swear a blood pact. Then I'll believe you and lay off the blackmail."

Zero groaned. "You damn bastard." Nevertheless, he jumped down from the tremendous tree and stepped forward, sinking his fangs into his right wrist. Then, as he began to swear the solemn oath, he glared at Kaien. "I promise to uphold the customs of the blood pact, yada yada, guard the Kuran male, yada yada, and commit suicide if I betray him."

The blood from his wrist dripped down his fingertips and was absorbed into the earth. God, Zero hated blood pacts. But his ancient dignity was on the line here. With a sigh, he turned to Cross and said, "What do I do now?" But Cross was staring at him, surprised. "What?" Zero asked irritably.

"You've gotten taller. Taller than me now," Kaien noted, amazed. "How? What have you been eating? Steroids?"

Zero glanced down at his feet, as if that could give him the answer to the question Kaien gave him. "No, I haven't been eating anything, actually. I haven't eaten human food—" he wrinkled his nose at the thought of grease, "—in two hundred years. All I've been ingesting is animal blood."

"Any animal in particular?"

The silver-head shrugged. "Boars, bears… Some company paid me to get rid of terrorizing lions." He smirked and held his left arm up, rolling back tattered sleeves of a dirtied white button-down shirt to show a scar, visible against his pale skin, extending from his elbow to his wrist in a jagged line. "That was the lion."

Kaien rolled his eyes. Then he put on a smile. "Now that I know you've been drinking blood for the past two hundred years and nothing else, it makes sense. Well, how have you been? You haven't just spent your time in retirement drinking blood, have you? What have you been up to?"

"To answer the question of how I've been, no, I didn't just spend time drinking blood. I spent time taking Vicodin too. Those three hundred years were filled with headaches, sleep, and more headaches accompanying sleep," replied Zero. "How're Ichiru and Yagari doing?"

"I already answered that question."

"With a shit answer, Cross. I want details on how my twin and my mentor are doing."

Kaien grimaced. "Yagari's been smoking more often than not. He's pretty wasted half of the time too. Shizuka's been getting pretty pissed with him being her Knight. I think they may be screwing behind our backs though. It isn't uncommon for Purebloods and their Knights to marry, though the Pureblood still needs to produce heirs. It could be a problem for Yagari and Shizuka, since the line needs to continue through the female while the male rules the family." Kaien saw how bored Zero was getting and thought to himself, You wouldn't need to be getting this talk if you listened in class, idiot. "As for Ichiru…" He chuckled. "He heard that we were going to find you and told me to tell you that he'd castrate you as soon as we brought you back. Then he'd hug you and welcome you back with some Vicodin."

"How long ago was this?" asked Zero, feeling a nostalgic emotion bubble up in him. That sounded just like Ichiru.

"Give-or-take three years."

Zero smirked. "I was that good?"

Kaien smiled at him. "Yagari taught you well. If only my pupils were that excellent at listening…they'd be somewhere along the lines of half as good as you are."

There was silence for a while, and then, Zero tentatively continued the conversation.

"Hey, Cross?"

"Yeah, Zero?"

"How have you been?"

Kaien blinked at the question. He didn't take Zero as the one to care for small talk, but then again, he hadn't seen Zero for a whole damn three hundred years. The ex-Knight could have changed for all Kaien knew. "Well, I recently got married."

Grinning, Zero plopped down against the trunk of the tree and looked up at him. "What's his name?"

Kaien strode forward and smacked him on the back of the head. "You little devil! I married a woman! Her name is Ayano." He glared at Zero, who laughed like there was no tomorrow. "You… I ought to cripple you for that!" But he couldn't help but join in on the laughter as well.

After they both finished laughing, Kaien looked at Zero in wonder.

"Are you really coming back?" he asked.

"Blackmail," Zero reminded him. "My tattered reputation can still be salvaged."

"Right. We better get going then. The Association wants you back before sundown, and you chose an entire five hundred kilometers away from the Square…"

Zero held a hand up, gesturing for Kaien to wait. Then, with a grimace, he leaned back against the tree and closed his eyes. Images flashed through his eyes, and his earlier headache that he had pushed aside came back stronger than ever. It must have been a pretty important vision if it was the pain was this strong.

A dark-haired boy was walking across a lawn… That was the Square of the Pureblood families. (Although…Zero didn't quite understand. There were seven families. Shouldn't it have been the Heptagon of the Pureblood families? Either way, there were seven giant houses separated along three sides of the square.) The dark-haired vampire strode along the grass calmly, confidently, like he owned the place. He probably did. A younger girl was there too, laughing joyously and skipping with him. They appeared to be related.

(There were other people; Zero could hear them.)

But the vision was mostly focused on the vampire, the Pureblood, and his companion. Then, out of the corner of the view, glinting silver could be seen—then a gunshot.

"Oh shit," said Zero, his breath coming out in a whoosh. "Oh double shit."

"What?" Kaien inquired, helping him to his feet as Zero's arm extended itself to Kaien. "What was it this time?"

"A Pureblood. Getting shot."

"When?"

"Day time… On the day of the festival. The Hanadagi's special festival." He could recognize the banners with the symbol on there, the insignia of the Hanadagi family. "It's during day time—why the hell are the Purebloods out in daylight I have no fucking idea—but since it is the festival…" Zero rubbed his eyes cantankerously and stepped away from Kaien's steadying arm, rubbing his temples with his fingertips.

"This isn't good… Zero?"

Zero turned to Kaien with a pained grimace. "Yes?"

"The festival is tomorrow."

Shit.